Holding tightly to the slender railing, Storm looked down at the moonlit shapes of the trees in the garden far below and wished herself safely back in her bed. She might be an Air-witch, but she didn’t have wings, and she was quite certain that she could not fly!

Something leapt on to Storm’s shoulder and wound both long furry arms around her throat. “Careful, Scoundrel!” Storm held her breath and waited for her heart to stop jumping like a frog in the rain. “A bit of warning next time, please!”

The cling-monkey chuntered in her ear. It sounded suspiciously like a giggle.

“Quiet!” Mer hissed. “We’re near the servants’ sleeping quarters. Hurry – this way.”

“Wait!” Storm put a hand on the other girl’s arm, drew her near and said in a low voice, “Why have you brought me up here?”

“If you don’t trust me, go back.” Mer’s eyes glittered in the moonlight.

Storm’s heart was full of misgivings. How could she escape Talon’s house from the attics? Was this some sort of complicated trick? Was Mer loyal to the Pact after all? Was she going to fling her off the roof? Storm gripped the hilt of her knife. Mer turned without another word and glided along the wooden parapet to the end of the house. Where she instantly disappeared.

Storm approached the spot where Mer had vanished, heart thudding. Had the girl fallen, or…? No! Now she could see that the platform continued around the side of the house where it became a wooden ladder descending into the shadows. Mer was already out of sight. Storm sighed and stepped gingerly on to the ladder. It was even more rickety than the parapet. Each step groaned as she put her weight on it.

“Hurry!” The single word floated up.

Scoundrel clinging tight, Storm climbed down and down and down. At last her foot touched solid ground. This side of the house lay in blinding darkness. A hand grabbed her elbow, tugged.

And then they were creeping through the back garden, darting from tree to tree, keeping in the shadows. Past the carp pond and far into the garden. When they were out of sight of the house, Mer set off at a trot. Storm followed close on her heels. Scoundrel made huffing noises in her ear, as though urging her on. Within a few breaths, they were at the far end of the wall encircling the garden. It was the height of two men and made of lumps of stone mortared and made smooth with a facing of clay.

The older girl turned to face Storm. “There is a way here over the wall. Here!” And she pointed to a deep crack in the wall where the smoothed clay had crumbled away from the stones.

The holes would serve as hand- and footholds, Storm saw at once. She thought she could see signs of it having been used recently.